Threshold-illuminating device.



No. 737,608. BATENTED SEPT. 1, 1903. VG. HAIL. THRESHOLD ILLUMINATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION rum) MAR. 11, 1903.

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I MTNBESBBL No. 737,608. PATENTED SEPT; 1,1903.

VG. HAIL.

THRESHOLD ILLUMINATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 11, 1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented September 1, 190

PATENT OFFICE.

THRESHOLD-ILLUMINATING DEVlCE;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 737,608, dated September 1, 1903. Application filed March 11, 1903. Serial No. 147,222. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE HAIL, of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thresholddlluminating Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide means for illuminating the threshold of a door leading into the elevator-car.

Many accidents are caused in attempting to enter 0r leave an elevator-car owing to the car being stopped with its floor out of the level of the floor of the adjacent landing. This is particularly true where the car and the well are not well lighted, so that the passenger is unable to perceive the difference in level.

On the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents diagrammatically a series of doors leading into the elevator-well and means for illuminating the threshold of each door as it is opened to permit access to the elevator-car which is stopped adjacent thereto. Fig. 2 represents another embodiment of the invention, in which the illuminatoris located upon the elevator-car, in this case the opening of the landing-door serving to close a circuit through the illuminator. Fig. 3 represents still another embodiment of the invention, in which the circuit through the illuminator includes a switch mounted in the car and operated by the opening of one of the corridordoors. Fig. 4 shows the switch on the car and the means on the wall of the well controlled by the corridor-door for operating the switch. Fig. 5 represents afront elevation of the doorswitch operating device. 6 represents a top plan view of the same. Fig. 7, Sheet 1, illustrates the elevator-illuminator.

The illuminating device in each case consists of an incandescent lamp 10, as shown in Fig. 7, which is preferably provided with a reflecting-hood 11, which directs theraysof light downwardly on the threshold of the door leading into the landing and on the floor of the car.

In Fig. 1 it will be seen that on the wall of the well by each of the landing-doors 12 13 11 15 there is an electric lamp, these lamps being respectively designated as 121 1.31 141 151. Each lamp is in a separate branch circuit 16, connected with the main circuit 17 which latter includes a suitable source of supply 18. The main circuit extends the entire length of the elevator-well and may bea portion of the ordinary lighting-circuit. In each branch circuit with a lamp there is a door-switch 19,havin g a plunger 20,which may be engaged by the door as the latter is closed, so as to break the branch circuit in which it is located. Any suitable switch may be employed for this purpose. When all the doors are closed, the current through all of the electriclampswill be out oii. WVhen the car reaches a landing and the door is opened, the initial movement of the door toward open position permits the plunger 20 to be forced forward by a spring or other suitable device, so as to close the branch circuit, whereupon the lamp will serve immediately to illuminate the threshold of the landing and the floor of the car adjacent thereto. Then the door is closed, the current is again cut oil from the lamp.

It is evident that in lieu of a plurality of lamps arranged as shown in Fig. 1 a single lamp maybe employed. In that event it will be mounted upon the car, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to throw the rays of light 011 the floor of the car and on the threshold of any landingdoor to which the car may be moved.

In Fig. 2 the lamp 21 is secured in any suitable manner near the floor of the car 22, and it is connected by a flexible cable with the main circuit 23. The door-switches 19 are connected in branch circuits or in multiple with each other. From this description it will be apparent that when one of the elevator-doors is opened the switch 19 closes the main circuit through the lamp 21, so that the latter becomes incandescent. In this instance the lamp not only serves the purpose of illuminating the floor of the car and the threshold of the carat the landing, but it also serves as a telltale to the operator on the car to indicate whether any of the doors leading into the elevator-well are open.

It is not essential that a plurality of switches 19 should be employed to be operated by a plurality of doors or that the main circuit should extend entirely up and down the elevator-well, for in Fig. 3 an embodiment of the invention is illustrated in which the electric switch and the lamp are both mounted on the car. In this figure the lamp 21 is in the branch circuit 23, leading from the main circuit 24, the conductors of which are connected by the cable with the car. The main circuit includes the usual lamp 25, which is suspended from the roof of the car. The switch is indicated at 26, and it is secured to the exterior of the car so that its plunger 27 may be engaged by the devices 011 the wall of the well. The switch-plunger 27 is normally in position to break the branch circuit 23, and consequently a device is provided so that when a door leading into the elevatorwell is opened and the car is stopped at the proper point relatively thereto the plunger will be actuated to close the circuit through the lamp. By each door, so as to be engaged by the edge thereof, is placed a slide 28. WVhen the door is closed, its edge engages the slide and thrusts it to the left (in Fig. 5) against the tension of a spring 29. This slide is mounted in guides in a plate 30, which may be attached to the door-casing or wall of the well in any suitable way. The slide has a wedge-shaped projection 31, which when the slide 28 is thrust rearwardly by the closing of the door will engage one end of a lever 32 and swing said lever about its fulcrum. The other flat end of the lever is adapted to engage the end of the plunger 27 when it is in the position shown in Fig. 4:- The upper end of the lever 32 is held against the slide 28 by a spring 33.

The operation of the devices is as follows: Vhen the doors leading into the well are all closed, the car travels freely up and down the well, with the plunger 27 in the switch 26 in position to cut off the supply of current to the lamp 21. When the car is brought to a state of rest at any one of the landings, the plunger 27 registers with the fiat end of a lever This flat end, however, is held by the wedge-shaped projection 21 on the slide 28. Upon the opening of the door the slide 28 follows it until it reaches the position shown in Fig. 6. The spring 33 immediately forces the flat end of the lever 32 outwardly, so as to press in the plunger 27 and close the circuit through the lamp 21. The lamp is used to illuminate the threshold of the car until said door is closed, and the last movement of the door toward closed position pushes back the slide 28 so as to swing the lever 32 about its fulcrum and release the plunger 27, and the latter immediately breaks the circuit through the lamp 21. The breaking of the circuit through the lamp 21 does not, how ever, affect the lamp 25, which is in the main circuit 24.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, I declare that what I claim is 1. In an elevator, the combination with a landing-door and a car, of an electric circuit including an electric lamp arranged and located in proximity to the threshold of said landing-door and the floor of the car when they are at an approximate level to throw a bright light thereon.

2. In an elevator, the combination with a car, a landing, and a door, of an electric cir cuit, and an electric lamp included in said circuit and located and hooded so as to, direct its rays of light to the exclusion of the rest of the car upon the threshold of the door and the floor of the car to illuminate them when the said car is opposite to the said landing.

3. In an elevator, the combination with a door, and a car, of an electric lamp located to direct its rays of light upon the threshold of the door and the floor of the car to illuminate the same, an electric circuit including said lamp, and also including door-controlled means for closing said circuit.

at. In an elevator, the combination with a door, and a car, of an electric lamp located to direct its rays of light upon the threshold of the door and the floor of the car, and automatic means whereby said lamp is lIlO2L11 descent only when the door is open. 4

5. In an elevator, the combination with a door, and a car, of an electric lamp located to direct its rays of light upon the threshold of the door and the floor of the car, an electric circuit including said lamp, and also including an electric switch adapted to be automatically operated by said door.

6. In an elevator, the combination with a landing-door, and a car, of an electric circuit including a lamp on the car arranged to direct its rays of light on the threshold of said door, and an automatic door-operated switch in said circuit.

7 In an elevator, the combination with a series of landin'g7doors, and a car, of a lamp located in the car near the floor thereof and near the entrance to the car, so as to illuminate the floor of the car and the threshold of the landing-door adjacent to which the car may be stopped, and an electric circuit including said lamp, and means whereby the opening of any one of said doors automatically closes the circuit through said lamp.

8. In an elevator, the combination with a series of landing-doors, and a car, of a lamp on the car, an electric switch on the car, a normally open electric circuit including said lamp and said switch, and means whereby the opening of any one of said doors, when the car is adjacent thereto, automatically actuates the switch to close said circuit.

9. In an elevator, the combination with a series of doors, and a car, of an illuminating lamp on the car, a normally closed electric circuit including said lamp, a hooded lamp,

an electric switch, a normally open branch circuit including said hooded lamp and said switch, and means whereby the opening of any one of said doors, when the car is adjacent thereto, actuates the said switch to close said branch circuit through the said hooded lamp.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE HAIL.

Witnesses WALTER S. REYNOLDS, AUGUSTA ALLEN. 

